Merc survival?

Ok i finally got my new hell meph blizzard sorc up. She owns hell meph with 900 life and 700 mana. My only problem is my merc. Meph usually owns him easily and once my merc dies I am an open target. My merc is a lvl 77 defiance merc and I am lvl 77. My merc uses reapers toll / lionheart / blackhorns face umed. He has 75 all res in hell 2k dmg and 1.4k life. I tried putting a shaft on him and he still got owned. Any suggestions on keeping him alive would help me greatly.

i think il put a tals mask on him since i just found another. Any other suggestions?

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tele across the river and blast the heck out of meph from a safe distance. Lead him up to the edge and tele across then magic magic magic - tele back across to collect lovely parting gifts.

kinda taking the easy way out but you and your merc are safer in the long run - just remember to have your shield up in case he gets you with his lightning or blue ball thingy of death. (oh and clear which ever room you are standing outside of - party crashers can ruin your whole morning)

- Put down the Tal's Mask and grab a Robert Guillaume's Face. Slap a 15 IAS jewel into the Face.

- 'Lionheart' has some beefy mods. Only thing it's missing is some 'Cannot Be Frozen'. CBF may not be super essential, but it is handy. Duriel's Shell is a nice merc armor. I think you're good to go with 'Lionheart', though. (nice resists)

You're giving up life leech by using Guillaume's, but gaining a 10 frame hit recovery as opposed to 15. You're also increasing your chance of doing double damage when combined with the DS from the Toll. Don't forget the 'Crushing Blow', which is damn helpful when taking on monsters with lots o' life such as act bosses.

With the added IAS, you have a speedy 6.5 fpa jab. This, combined with the 30% FHR, will help deal with the lower life leech you'd otherwise have by using Tal's. The IAS will also speed up the chances of Decrep, DS, and CB. Level 1 Decrep has a pathetic duration, so I'd want that going off as much as possible for your merc's sake. With 'Lionheart', I'm guessin' your merc's resists look good.

Over the years i have done alot of mephruns, and i knew the same problem as you have. I solved that by leaving the merc at home, you dont need a merc for meph, he just gets in the way. My sorc has 600 life and 800 mana, she dont need no stinking merc.

other than that full res and cbf and that's about all you can do...maybe a bit of DR but I find my merc survives more if you can get him right on top of meph asap...then his charged bolt won't own him.

And Ham, 600 life is nowhere near enough for hell meph, I'd love to see you tank him without a merc in 1.10.

- Put down the Tal's Mask and grab a Robert Guillaume's Face. Slap a 15 IAS jewel into the Face.

- 'Lionheart' has some beefy mods. Only thing it's missing is some 'Cannot Be Frozen'. CBF may not be super essential, but it is handy. Duriel's Shell is a nice merc armor. I think you're good to go with 'Lionheart', though. (nice resists)

You're giving up life leech by using Guillaume's, but gaining a 10 frame hit recovery as opposed to 15. You're also increasing your chance of doing double damage when combined with the DS from the Toll. Don't forget the 'Crushing Blow', which is damn helpful when taking on monsters with lots o' life such as act bosses.

With the added IAS, you have a speedy 6.5 fpa jab. This, combined with the 30% FHR, will help deal with the lower life leech you'd otherwise have by using Tal's. The IAS will also speed up the chances of Decrep, DS, and CB. Level 1 Decrep has a pathetic duration, so I'd want that going off as much as possible for your merc's sake. With 'Lionheart', I'm guessin' your merc's resists look good.

I think il get a kelpie snare before I start switching all of his gear around and socketing it. Does anyone have one on USeast Ladder I could borrow or have?
/w *acb
/w *acb123
if you do im usually afk so if you do make a reply here or pm me.

And Ham, 600 life is nowhere near enough for hell meph, I'd love to see you tank him without a merc in 1.10.

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He's got full EShield and TK iirc, and all he runs is Meph, in 1.10, without a Merc. I don't find that hard to believe.

The one item I was surprised to see nobody recommend is Gris Armor. This is a Defiance Merc, so give him what he needs. Upwards of 940 def, +2 defensive auras (last time I checked this worked for Mercs), and with 3 PRubies that's a whopping 114 extra life. I would stick with Blackthorn's for a helm as Meph's lightning attacks, especially the CB up close, can do quite a bit of dmg. I could care less what weapon he uses, he's not there to do damage or anything, just to absorb attacks.

It's all about disposing Meph before he can dispose of your Merc (and you for that matter). It's much more effective to use your weapon switch for charges of LR and kill him quicker than to use charges of LT and keep your merc leeching. What I do when I finally get to Meph is cast LR as he's charging me, switch back, give Merc a big red potion, Static a couple times, teleport away to the right Orbing distance (this keeps the Merc from getting hit for a few seconds), then just Orb Orb Orb 'til he's dead. Sometimes I can even keep my buddy from getting poisoned if I time everthing right, and he only seems to die when Meph's got an aura on him (Might, Blessed Aim).

Well first of all you cannot leach from meph unless Life Tap is on him. 2nd of all as stated before Kelpie Snare is insanely good against solo bosses. My merc hasn't died yet on Hell meph, he is lvl 78 and his gear is Kelpie Snare, upgraded rockfleece, rockstopped. What I do is cast and orb to chill meph then teleport right on him and static till halfway. Now meph is chilled and 75% slower from my merc and I just run back to the good orbing distance and finish him off. Merc hardly even gets scratched .

other than that full res and cbf and that's about all you can do...maybe a bit of DR but I find my merc survives more if you can get him right on top of meph asap...then his charged bolt won't own him.

And Ham, 600 life is nowhere near enough for hell meph, I'd love to see you tank him without a merc in 1.10.

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Well, at this point i did maybe around 200 mephruns, alone, without merc! My sorc's gear is:
nightwings veil (or something, the new spired helm)
storm
ormus
wiz
ordal's boots
mahim oak's amu
T-gods
frostburns
ravenfrost and manald
Do you notice the lack of MFgear? Meph rarely touches my live, most of the time i use manapotions. I find meph 1.10 the same as meph 1.9, exept ofcourse for the expanded level. And now he even drops great without MF, a dream come true.

Slow doesnt work on Meph.
I think a merc has to be 80+ before he can actually tank meph.I know mine died constantly before that.My gear is ethereal andy visage,um shaft and ethereal reapers toll.I dont need any lifetap wands either.Just feed your merc a pot or two while attacking meph and it be fine.Or level him to around 82-83.